Vyrkos
The Vyrkos is a dynasty of Soulblight Vampires and are among the most infamous dynasties among their kind. Animalistic and strange they try to maintain a refined but rugged persona, acting as warrior-kings and nobles but behind their thick fur and cold expressions they are more or less ravening beasts seeking to turn the realms into their own hunting grounds.[1a]
Contents
Origin
The Vyrkos originate from the dark, freezing forests of Shyish, filled with ashen-barked and black-leaved trees that grow close and tall while the ground is covered in dense banks of snow containing frozen bodies. Few of these victims perished through simple cold, others torn apart by savage wolf packs or the other slavering predators that roam the forests but the rest are instead found violently exsanguinated, their faces stuck in expressions of terror. To travel further is to enter the territory of the Vyrkos Dynasty. Vyrkos possess their own unique strain of the Soulblight curse, but unlike others they have a near-uniquely bestial manifestation. According to Shyishan legend the first of the Vyrkos, Belladamma Volga, was not sired by a vampire but by a bargain with the undead godbeast Hrunspuul, the Hound of the Cairns who in return cursed all of Belladamma’s line to reflect the qualities of one of totemic animal-spirits venerated in their tribal culture, of which the wolf was considered the most sacred.[1a]
Characteristics
Many of those that receive the blood kiss by a Vyrkos vampire are overwhelmed by the curse of the Godbeast and are reduced to a bestial state similar to that of abhorrants. Venerable Vyrkos have learnt to control their animal core, but cannot suppress it entirely and lack any interest in trying. The rarely seen Vyrkos are said to be as much wolf as they are vampire and those that hide their bestial selves behind a courtly facade inevitably become all the more monstrous when their true nature is unleashed. The Vyrkos are nomadic by nature due to the urge to hunt the living but do not lack the vampiric drive for conquest and many Vyrkos lords have taken up permanent holdings such as the cursed Shyishan city of Ulfenkarn. Just like others they raise up undead armies and assemble courts similar to aristocratic Soulblight nobles convincingly, albeit with a savage and warlike edge. But the reality is shown in their halls stalked by slavering Dire Wolves, kingdoms haunted by vampires who could not master their transformations and the cold sneers worn by the Vyrkos nobility that barely conceal the monsters within their souls.[1a]
Notable
Sources
- 1: Battletome: Soulblight Gravelords (2021)
- 1a: Vyrkos Dynasty, pg.22
